Medical Memoirs: Accounts of a New Apprentice
by giraffe.out.loud
Summary: Excerpts from Tsunade's journal concerning Sakura, Konoha, and silly men.
1. 1xx200605

Miss Haruno Sakura came to my office today requesting medical apprenticeship. She is not the first, sadly. I have rejected many prospective students in the past: some on personal assessment, others on lackluster aptitude. I have turned away current Jōnin, even _my own father_. I have stood firm with my decisions. Medical ninjitsu is still too novel, too rapidly changing a field for even the most able minds to accept. Its half-truths, half-lies, and persistent exceptions—in many cases, medical specialization is even more challenging than the work of _Hokage_.

That said, I took Miss Haruno in. I had to. Her eyes—they wouldn't have accepted "no."

They reminded me too much of my own.


	2. 1xx200608

The young girl shows promise. In just three days time, Miss Haruno has memorized the names and critical functions of each chakra pathway, organic system, and cellular structure of the human body. I had also tasked her with memorizing fifty medical prefixes—yet she has learned all two-hundred. At this rate, she'll integrate the entire curriculum within a year's time.

I wish to study whatever wondrous drug Kakashi-san is feeding his students.


	3. 1xx200613

Canceled a lesson with Sakura today in observation of a last-minute council meeting. The bigwigs were expressing growing concern over Akatsuki activity. Representatives from the Earth country have reported several nin who disappeared while tracking alleged Akatsuki agents. I urged patience on the matter but other chairpersons demanded some sort of contingency—especially Danzo.

Danzo...gung-ho as usual. The idiot proposed that we immediately send ANBU teams to investigate the incident, a suggestion I labeled as counter-intuitive. The tactic does not bode well with the Konoha image, I told him, for whom the rest of the United Countries already dislike. I presented that Konoha cannot police the world when the village can _barely stand on its own legs_. Danzo continued to argue his case and so I, in my first defiant act as Hokage, vetoed him. The room fell silent, as did Danzo. I didn't care, though. We don't need this tension now.

Ugh. Learn your place, old fool. I don't know what era you're living in but now is a time of **peace**—don't ruin it.


	4. 1xx200622

Sakura cut herself in lab today. Though we were working with refrigerated specimens, the sight of frog guts shook her enough to prompt a mistake. It would have been an adorable reaction had she not screamed in my face.

Perhaps I'm asking too much of a thirteen year old girl.

When I asked Sakura what happened, she sheepishly told me that the "guts look so much wetter in person than they do in the text book." I couldn't hold my laughter. "Of course," I told her. "You can't find all the answers you want in a pretty scroll. School may work that way—not real life." She forced a smile and finished the lab. What a cute girl.

What a cute, terribly naive girl.


	5. 1xx200717

Sakura fell asleep in my study today. She had spent the entire evening preparing for her first MBTs and dozed off right in the middle of cramming. Being only one month into her apprenticeship, Shizune argues that Sakura is pushing herself too hard. "No one should be consuming this much knowledge so quickly." It was a humorous announcement, considering that Shizune was just as if not more ambitious than Sakura in her own endeavors. "The girl can handle it," I reassured.

As I laid a blanket over Sakura, she muttered the Young Uchiha's name. No, not in affection nor teenage lust—she spoke in sadness. I knew of Sasuke's reputation as local heartbreaker but this...this precedes simple rejection. To have befriended such a closed-off individual, to entertain the privilege of such a rare and unique friendship...only to _lose _him in the end? _Absolutely horrid_. She had spoken to me before about the young man. It was enough for me to know that no matter how much he continued to hurt her, she could _never truly hate him_. I guessed as much. It just _breaks _my heart to hear it.

What is it in the genetic code that provokes young men to be so stupid? To be driven so callously by power? Is it to impress us, the women? Is it flaring egos, a desire for blood? The compulsion to control those who are weaker? To kill? I pity the Young Uchiha but I cannot afford him any further sympathies. Not as Hokage, not as a Sannin, not even as a _human being_. I've seen what blind lust does to men—I cannot forgive it.

Should the Young Uchiha resurface as a terrorist, he will be hunted down. And should he break Sakura's heart once more, I will crush him under my heels. The gods as my witness, I will _crush him under my heels_.


	6. 1xx200830

Jiraiya sent an encoded message today. Naruto's training is undergoing "steady progress," a term which in Jiraiya-speak probably means "needs-more-work." Regardless, I have utmost faith in the child. If Naruto is as gifted as I think he is…if he exhibits every ounce of genius his father Minato once touted, then Naruto will succeed. I have faith in him.

Then again, if Jiraiya is as immature as I know he is then Naruto will inherit not only the Fire's Will but the perversions of a _dirty old man_. In that case, we will all be in danger.

And by us, I mean "the women."


	7. 1xx200903

Sakura successfully transfused organ tissue today. The girl is absolutely brilliant. To have mastered chakra incisions already...she's going to be an unparalleled practitioner.


	8. 1xx201027

At lunch, Sakura told me she couldn't wait to show Naruto everything she's learned. She argued that with her newfound knowledge of medicine, he wouldn't be able to tease her anymore and that he would have to acknowledge her as a full-fledged, independent woman. I smiled and said nothing more. For a lady so steeped in competition with the little brat, she affords him a great deal of admiration. More so than friends typically give. It makes me wonder if there's more between them than she lets on.

Oh, to be young again.


	9. 1xx201207

**STUPID. FUCKING. MORON**.

The idiot sent another message today, this time notifying me that he would commence Naruto's jinchuuriki training. Initially, I was composed. We had discussed the possibility of invoking the Nine Tails chakra prior to their departure. We both agreed that harnessing its energies was the only means of fending off Akatsuki and that if anyone could help Naruto-kun do so, it might be Jiraiya.

What really broke my patience however was Jiraiya's proposed method—the fool would act a free-target for the Nine-Tails. No extra safety precautions, no shadow clone exploits—just Jiraiya, one-on-one with the beast that _decimated _our village. I was _livid_. So livid, in fact, that I canceled Sakura's lessons today and shut myself in the chambers. Had Shizune not stopped me, I would have had ANBU detain the two idiots.

This is ludicrous. How dare he go behind my back and conduct such a stupid risk! Always playing with fire—the damn fool just doesn't know when to quit. I swear to god, Jiraiya, if you get hurt, I'll never forgive you.

_Please_, don't get yourself hurt.


	10. 1xx300320

I ran into Kakashi at the memorial. We spoke briefly about Sakura, told him she was excelling beautifully and that he had nothing to worry about. I even commended her for helping me pick out Dan's flowers this week. Kakashi smiled…at least, I think he did. It's difficult to tell behind that cryptic mask of his.

Dan. It would've been twenty-four years this day, huh, babe? I can't remember exactly. All the flowers, the dinners, the sunsets, the kisses—there were so many to count. So many. Too many things that made me love you. Too many things that I _miss_. Too many lonely nights. Too many drinks for _one_. Not enough drinks _with you_.

God, we had **something good**.

Please tell me you're still there. Tell me that you hear me, tell me that's you're still listening. I miss you so much right now...

Damn it. Who the hell am I kidding.


	11. 1xx300416

Sakura's taking the NMBT tomorrow. Instead of the usual cram session, I thought it'd be fun to take her and Shizune for a girls' night out.

And so I did.

We got manicures, ate kobayaki, went shopping, and ended the night in a warm, heavenly bath. Unprofessional, perhaps, but the girls needed a break. _**I **_needed a break. The greatest wars are not always fought with swords nor on battlefields. They are conducted by mothers and professional women, fought in dirty kitchens, untidy homes, government halls, and classrooms, the types of battles no man could completely fathom. While I sternly uphold the need for female empowerment in modern culture, no lady should have to grit her teeth without due reprieve.

A woman must celebrate her own victories with confetti. Or _soap suds_.


	12. 1xx300602

I delivered the commencement speech at Konoha Medical today. The headmaster introduced me as an _esteemed guest_, a title at which I scoffed. Was he not there when I abandoned the profession? Then again, I suppose I should be grateful that the village has taken me back. Oh well. These are the perks of being Hokage, I guess.

The speech? Well, it wasn't the best presentation I've given. I fumbled throughout the entire opening. Not on account stage fright but the mosaic of smiles stuck on my eyes. Such happy faces in the crowd. Determined, optimistic faces yearning to save those in need. It brought me reassurance for mankind, an optimism I had lost in my war-faring youth. Yes, I had my reservations about the ninja world—not anymore. Though conflict is inevitably on the horizon, I know these are better times. Diseases are being cured, technology expanding, lives being saved—medical ninjitsu is progressing rapidly, faster than my peers and I could have ever imagined. The single flower Dan and I planted so long ago has _blossomed _into a field of knowledge and of hope. The field will continue grow so as long as there are caring, forthright souls in the world.

At the end of my speech, I peeked at Sakura. She looked right back at me, piercing me with the same eyes and determination that won my respect twelve odd months ago. She has changed so much since then. No longer a girl but a blossoming lady; naive about the world but no longer afraid to admit it...she is a woman whose nurturing hands will build the future for our little village. I know she'll do it well.

It won't be easy. Yes, she will be wrought by challenges. Yes, she will be confronted by enemies far larger than she. Yes, her heart will be broken by stupid, silly men. But I know my little Sakura will overcome. She will grow into a beautiful woman, find love, and right the mistakes that this old fogey has left behind. Why? Because I have faith in her.

The day belongs to her.


End file.
